How could these places possibly run flawlessly (most of the time)? The inner workings of an airport must be the largest customer/retail endeavor on the face of the earth, yet we almost never hear anything about them. The movie The Terminal (when Tom Hanks actually lives in an airport terminal) notwithstanding, I decided to do some digging into the magnitude and mechanics of how our airports and airlines worked. Information was surprisingly hard to find but that’s ok – I had hours to wait until my next flight.
Best rated airports in the US:
Passengers rated Orlando and Denver’s airports the best for large-sized, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky best for medium-sized, and San Antonio and Austin the top for small airports.
The world’s biggest airport:
The world's Largest Airport used to be Kansai International Airport in Osaka, Japan as recent as 2012. But in 2013, Al Maktoum International Airport in Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates opened their doors to passenger travel, making it the largest. It’s still being expanded and the final completion isn’t expected until around 2025 at a total price tag of about $37 billion dollars. Already, it’s described as an “Aviation city” or “Airatropolis.”
Longest runway:
Qamdo Bangda Airport in the Peoples Republic of China has the longest runway in the world at 5.50 kilometers in length (as of 2011).
That dubious honor goes to the tiny Tenzing-Hillary Airstrip at the base of Mount Everest in Nepal at 9,325 feet. Built by Sir Edmund Hillary in 1965 – 12 years after he became the first man to conquer Everest – they have to deal with extreme weather and icing but also the runway is unusually challenging. It’s one of the smallest in the world at 55 meters long, barely 20 meters wide, and slopes a precipitous 12 degrees. They’ve suffered fatal airplane crashes in 2004, 2008, and again in 2010.
U.S. airport at the highest altitude:
The commercial airport at the highest elevation in the United States is Telluride Regional Airport in Telluride, Colorado, which sits at 9,070 feet above sea level.
What's up with our cell phones, tray tables, and seat backs?
Cell phone signals can interfere with the plane's electromagnetic communication signals. It's reported that 1/3 of passengers still keep their electronics on but the National Transportation Safety Board never issued a mandate or even recommendation to turn our phones off for safety. It has more to do with interfering with what the pilots have to do regarding instrumentation and their cockpit electronics, which it does affect.
They turn the cabin lights off during takeoff and landing for safety reasons. Your eyes will adjust to the low light so in case there’s an accident and they have to activate the emergency slides, passengers will be adjusted to the dark and more alert in evacuation.
They require you to put up tray tables and seat backs because in the event of an emergency landing, statistics show those can be deadly factors when combined the G-force of a crash.
World’s safest airport:
Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv Israel is the world’s safest, with anti-terrorism security that makes the Secret Service look like Boy Scouts. Their screening process is far and above what we have even in the United States.
In terms of airport crashes in American airports, Cincinnati/Kentucky’s International airport (CVG) is the safest. They reported only 4 runway incidents between 2006 and 2010 and only 1 from 2008 to 2010, both leading the way for safety.
World’s safest airline:
QANTAS Airlines out of Australia still has the world's best safety record with no crashes as of 2011.
Russia's Aeroflot Airlines has a startlingly horrible safety record with 8,231 fatalities on record. Air France is ranked second with 1,783 passenger deaths in its history.
Airline with the largest fleet:
Delta Airlines has the largest fleet in the world with 744 aircraft and 121 aircraft on order as of March 2011.
Largest commercial passenger plane:
The largest commercial passenger plane is the Airbus 380, standing nearly 240 feet long, 80 feet high, and has a wingspan of more than 260 feet. This double-decker plane has a seating capacity of 555 passengers.
World oldest airline:
KLM of the Netherlands (which stands for Koninklijke Luchtvaart Maatschappij, or Royal Dutch Airlines) was the world’s oldest as it was established in 1919. However KLM recently merged with Air France, leaving Australia’s Qantas airline (Queensland And Northern Territories Air Service,) born in 1920, is now the world’s oldest.
World’s oldest airport:
Sydney Airport claims to be the world’s oldest continuously operating commercial airport, beginning operations in 1920.
However, the world’s oldest continuously operating airfield (not passenger or commercial) is in College Park Airport, Maryland, set up by Wilbur Wright in 1909.
The best movie about commercial flying:
What country has the most airports?:
That would be the USA hands-down, as we have 1/3 of the total airports in the world, 6,597 at last count. Canada is next with 661 and then Brazil 589, Australia 475, and France 275. There are 37 countries with only 1 airport.
Most traveller traffic:
The world’s busiest commercial airport is Hartsfield-Jackson Airport (ATL) in Atlanta, with 970,000 airplanes and 88 million passengers shuffling through a year a year. They have an airplane taking off or landing every 37 seconds.
Cutting back to save $:
Airlines are getting notoriously cheaper, cutting back anywhere they can and diminishing the passenger experience from luxury travel to sardine-packed human shipments. To save a little coin, American Airlines was the first to announce that they will no longer provide pillows during flights. But they promise to keep those thin, fuzzy blankets to keep us warm during flights.
The kings of frugal flying, AA only saved $40,000 a year starting 1987 by removing one extra olive from each salad served in first class.
Virgin Atlantic lists catering as their third biggest expense, after fuel and maintenance.
American Airlines spent $425 million on food for domestic passengers in 2001.
In one year, British Airways passengers consume: 40.5 tons of chicken, 6 tons of caviar, 22 tons of smoked salmon, 557,507 boxes of chocolate and 90 thousand cases of sparkling wine. Wow, remind me to fly British Air and not American!
In-flight catering is an $18 billion industry worldwide that employs up to 200,000 people at any given time.
In 2009 alone, Southwest Airlines served 63.2 million cans of soda, juices, and water; 14.3 million alcoholic beverages; 14 million bags of pretzels; 90 million bags of peanuts; 17.7 million Select-A-Snacks; and 33.5 million other snacks.
Singapore Airlines spends about $700 million on food every year and $16 million on wine alone. First class passengers consume 20,000 bottles of alcohol every month and Singapore Airlines is the second largest buyer of Dom Perignon champagne in the world! (I’m the first.)
Cathay Pacific out of the Philippines carries rice cookers, toasters, cappuccino makers and skillets on board their airplanes.
Becoming a plot:
It used to be obscenely easy to be a pilot - in the United Kingdom in the 1920s you didn’t even need a license to fly people or goods around – you didn’t even need to pass a test!
Nowadays it’s a lot more regulated and there’s immense competition to be a pilot. About half of commercial pilots come from the military and the other half from pilot schools. They have to pass a physical exam every six months, a checkride twice a year, and keep up to date on new technologies and procedures.
All International Airline Pilots need to speak English as well.
Is being a pilot as lucrative and glamorous as it seems?:
Yes and no, because seniority is everything. Newbie pilots might only make $25k to $50k a year, and everyone is trying to work there way up to a job with a big commercial airline. Experienced pilots with 10 years or more seniority might make up to 300k a year.
The perks are great - pilots only usually fly between 9 and 14 days a month but fly free on all domestic routes, regardless of airline (there’s an all-airline agreement.)
Pilots work in teams – all flights longer than 8 hours require 3 pilots to rotate flying in shifts. Flights longer than 12 hours require 4 pilots.
During the flight, each pilot is required to eat a different meal to minimize the risk of all pilots on board being ill at once! (Just like the movie Airplane.)
The standard ratio of Flight Attendants to passengers is 1 to 50.
If pilot jobs are hard to get, flight attendant positions are even more competitive. When Delta announced 1,000 openings in 2010, it received over 100,000 applications!
Stewardesses used to bear the brunt of some strict and sexist practices – they had to be taller than 5’ 2”, couldn’t weigh more than 130 lbs., and had to retire by 32 years old. They also couldn’t be married or even have children! As a result, most stewardesses lasted just 18 months on the job.
But in the 1970s, the organization Stewardesses for Women’s Rights forced airlines to change their ways. The mandatory retirement age was the first thing to go, followed by the marriage restriction in the 1980’s. These days, as long as flight attendants can do the job and pass a yearly training program, they can keep flying. They do, however still have a height requirement but that’s just so they can capably reach overhead safety equipment.
Fact: Flight attendants hate when you order Diet Coke. Of all the drinks they serve, Diet Coke takes the most time to pour because it fizzes the most, especially at 35,000 feet. So in the time it takes to pour one Diet Coke they could serve three other passengers other beverages.
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Stay tuned because next week in Part 2 of this article we'll look at the statistics on airline crashes, the coolest airports in the world, and the official airline policy on the Mile High Club!
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ReplyDeleteThere are many airports and airlines in the world but an airport needs to be safe and secured for passengers.
ReplyDeletemeet and greet at heathrow